Dumping-rake.



y No. 760,666. A PATENTED MAY 24, 19041 E. WALRATH. DUMPING RAKE'. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1903.

NO MODEL.

No. I760,666.

' UNITED STATES Patented May 24, 1904.

PATENT ORA-FICE.

DUMPING-RAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming" part 'ofi Letters Patent No. 760,666, dated May 24, 1904.

.. Application f led November 12, 1903. Serial No. 180,918. (No medal.)

To a/ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it kn own that I, EDWARD WALRATH, a citi` zen ofthe United States, Aresiding at Lafargeville, in the county `of Jefferson and State of lNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dumping-Rakes; and I do hereby declare the following'to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as lwill enable others skilled in the'art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to dumping-rakes, and

more particularly to a rake to be used to place the hayv in bunches or haycocksafter it hasbeen previously rakedin windrows, which is accomplished by the ordinaryhay-rake now in use.

My improved hay rake or cocker has a semicircularbeam or teeth-carrying bar, the open end ofthe semicircle thus formed by the beam to be of any desired width, preferably' from live to six feet, which will insure that the hayl will be prevented from spreading and will inafter made clearly apparent, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichare made a part of this application, and in which- Figure 1 shows a perspective view-of my improved rake complete. Fig, 2 is a central sectional view of my rake. Fig. 3 isa perspective detail View of the devices employed lto dump the rake o r discharge it of its contents.

For convenience of reference the various details and cooperating accessories of my invention will be designated by numerals, thevsame the several views.

numeral applying to asimilar part throughout In carrying out my inventionl provide the* main or supporting axle 1 of the usual kor'anyi preferred construction, having the carrying-y wheels 2, as is common. kvUpon the inner end of each hub of the wheels 211 rigidly secure charge the load at any ldesired point'. v*forward ends ofthe' rake-beam are pivotally 'rmly connected to the axle. 4observed that-I` have provided alink A13,.the-

a ratchet-wheel 3, having ay Yseries'of for- -wardlylinclined teeth, and designed to coperate with said teethare the dogs or detentsn 4, which are the upwardly-bent ends of the crank-shaft 5, having the crank-section 6 located, preferably, in the central part thereof, said-e1ankshaft being providedV with suitable bearings inthe ears V7, as clearly shown.l

As will' be observed by reference to thel drawings, my rake-beam is curvedfthroughout its entire length and may be made of any' suitable material, preferably of angle-iron or steel, each end of'which is properly connect# ed in any suitable manner, as willbe hereinafter more particularly pointed out, to the carrying-axle. AI prefer to bend each end slightly downward, thereby placing the draft or load below the top of the rake-teeth,whic'h will 'insurethat the teeth will more reliably remain in their operative position or in close contact with the surface of the ground, which is a very valuable and important desideratum,

'inasmuch as a rake beam and teeth are required to carry a very heavy load, and thereby overcome a very severe strain placed thereon incident to use. The rake-beam is' provided with a plurality of'spring-teeth 9, whichl` are preferably about two feetinlength,"more` or less, and stand in a substantially vertical position, andare curved or directed forward sufciently far to cause'them to take into'the hay. Eachtooth is Yalso bent'upon itself to provi/deja complete coil 10,while the extreme' upper endof each tooth is bent in the form of `a hook, said hook being inserted through a suitable aperture provided in the brake-beam' 8, the free end of the hook being indicated byv 'the numeral 11.

g v My improved rakefbeam'is to be operatively connected with the su pporting-axle in the manner substantially as set forth, whereby a reliable control upon the rake-beam is secured, which will permit the operator to readilyds- T 1e connected, as will A be noted 'b y reference to the drawings, to the lower end of the depending bracket 12, the upper end of which is It will also be IOO upper end of which is pivotally connected to the crank-shaft 5, while the lower end thereof is similarly connected to the end of the rake-beam, whereby when the crank-shaft is partially rotated the rake-beam is elevated. As hereinbefore stated, the forward ends of the rake-bar are pivotally connected to the lower end of the depending bracket 12, the upper end of which is firmly connected to the axle 1. I also provide the link 13, the upper end of which is pivotally connected to the crank-shaft 5, while the lower end thereof is similarly connected near the end of the rakebody 8, and it therefore follows that when the detents 1 are thrown forward in a manner hereinafter set forth said detents will engage one of the teeth upon the wheels 3 and elevate the ears 7, it being understood that said ears are loosely mounted upon the axle 1.

I desire to call special attention to the shape or form of my teeth-carrying bar or rakebeam 8, which by reference to Fig. 1 will be seen to be formed of a suitable piece of material, preferably angle-iron, bent substantially in the form of a half-circle. By this arrangement the said beam is bowed rearwardly and is necessarily of much greater length than would be required if said bar was extended straight across the rear of the machine, as is now common, and parallel with the axle of the rake. By thus rearwardly extending the bowed center of my rake-bar or teeth-carrying beam it is obvious that a much greater quantity of hay or other commodity forming the load may be engaged and carried by the teeth, inasmuch as said teeth are necessarily multiplied in number to meet the greater capacity of the rake beam. The machine also may be more easily turned with its load when provided with a semicircular rake-beam than would be possible if a straight beam was used, for the reason that the teeth would be left free to move laterally around the load of hay or the like, whereas if a straight rake-beam was used a greater strain w'ould be placed upon the teeth in moving a portion of the load while turning. rIhese are but a few of a large number of advantages arising from the use of my semicireu'lar rake-beam.

My rake-beam may be very cheaply manufactured of angle-iron, whereby it will possess the requisite strength to meet all requirements.

The crank 6 is pivotally connected to the lower end of the lever 14, said lever being properly fulcrurned near its upper end to the bracket or ear 15, it being understood that the lower end of the lever is properly formed, as by being bent back upon itself, so that a Slotted opening 16 will be formed therein to receive the crank 6, this slotted opening being for the purpose of compensating for the forward movement of the crank when the detents or dogs 4 are in engagement with the wheels 2. rlhe forward end of the lever is properly bent and shaped to provide the treadle-scction 17, by means of which the foot vof the operator is employed to depress the treadle and incidentally throw the crank 6 rearwardly, thereby causing the detents 1 to move forward into engagement with the contiguous tooth upon the wheels 3, the result being that as said wheels are turned forward by the rotation of the wheels 2 said wheels being rigidly connected together, as hereinbefore stated, the ears 7 will be raised and incidentally drawing upward the link-sections, the members 13, and the rake-body 8, to which they are connected, thereby elevating the raketeeth out of engagement with their load.

In order to return the rake-body 8 to a hori- Zontal position after it has been lifted to release the load, I provide a shaft 18, which is pivotally secured to the axle 1 by suitable brackets 19. The extreme outer ends of said shaft are bent downwardly to form crank-arms 20, to each of which is secured one end of a rod 21, the opposite ends of said rods being secured to the body 8. The central portion of said shaft is properly bent to form a lever .orfoot extension 22, said lever being located in convenient relation to the seat, so that when the rake-body 8 has been lifted,as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, the operator places his foot upon said lever and pushes downwardly thereon, this action serving to return said body to its horizontal plane. The aforesaid device also serves the purpose of holding` the rake-body 8 downwardly and preventing the same from casual raising and incidentally losing or discharging the load.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a very simple though reliably-eiiicient mechanism for accomplishing the purposes hereinbefore set forth, and believing that the advantages, construction, and manner of using my invention have thus been made clearly apparent further description is deemed unnecessary.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a rake of the character specified, the combination with a suitable axle and carryingwheels therefor, of a rake-beam operatively carried by said axle, said rake-beam being substantially semicireular in form; a plurality of teeth carried by said selnicircular rake-beam and suitable means coperating with the axle and said beam whereby the latter may be freely raised or lowered, all combined substantially as specified and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD W ALRA'III.

S JOSEPH S11/xenon'.

mark.

IOO 

